Holdouts in Utah now letting gay couples wed

By Paul Foy

Associated Press

Posted:
12/26/2013 09:58:50 AM PST

Updated:
12/26/2013 09:58:51 AM PST

Click photo to enlarge

FILE - In this Friday, Dec. 20, 2013 file photo, Chris Serrano, left, and Clifton Webb kiss after being married, as people wait in line to get licenses outside of the marriage division of the Salt Lake County Clerk's Office in Salt Lake City. The last six months of 2013 have provided a frenzy of court decisions and laws in favor of gay marriage, punctuated by a ruling in heavily Mormon Utah that has allowed hundreds of same-sex couples to wed in the last week. The U.S. Supreme Court opened the floodgates with its June ruling that overturned a 1996 ban on gay marriage, and the change has been swift. Judges in Utah, New Mexico and Ohio have all ruled in favor of gay marriage in the past week. (AP Photo/Kim Raff, File)

SALT LAKE CITY -- The last of the Utah counties that were holding out on issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples have reversed course and decided to hand out licenses to all eligible applicants.

Officials for the four holdouts -- Box Elder, Utah, Piute and San Juan counties -- told The Associated Press they made the decision Thursday to offer licenses to same-sex couples. Utah has 29 counties.

County clerks say they had little choice after an appeals court denied a motion for a stay on a ruling Friday from U.S. District Judge Robert Shelby. He ruled Utah's ban unconstitutional. The state is preparing an appeal.

The Utah attorney general's office had said counties could be held in contempt of federal court if they refused to comply.